Chronicles of the Gonzi administration

March 2008

In the 2008 general election the Nationalist Party retains its majority albeit by a mere 1,200 votes and obtaining a fragile one-seat majority. Gonzi's troubles commenced just hours after his pyrrhic electoral victory. There was no place for Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando oin Lawrence Gonzi's new Cabinet, despite the fact that the Nationalist MP's antics in the last week of the electoral campaign swayed a number of votes in the PN's favour. Other former ministers such as Jesmond Mugliett, Ninu Zammit, Louis Deguara and Francis Zammit Dimech are informed that they will no longer be ministers by SMS.

Franco Debono, the youngest MP in the legislature, is elected against all odds on the fifth electoral district to the detriment of PN veterans Louis Galea and Helen D'Amato.

Richard Cachia Caruana returned from the shadows, forcefully securing the Cabinet's first decision to get Malta back into NATO's Partnership for Peace.

February 2009

Gonzi drops plans to develop an underground extension of the museum of St John's Co-Cathedral. Following stern opposition from Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando, Ninu Zammit and Jesmond Mugliett, the Prime Minister called off a Parliamentary vote which the government was set to lose.

The highly controversial plans, sponsored by Cachia Caruana, to excavate an underground extension for the St John's Co-Cathedral did not see the light of day following an agreement between the Prime Minister and the Archbishop to scrap the St John's Co-Cathedral Foundation project.

June 2009

The PN suffers a humiliating defeat at the hands of Labour's absolute majority of 54% compared to the PN's 40% in the 2009 European Parliament elections.

Nationalist MPs embarked on a collision course with the Prime Minister and PN leader, as ministers, former ministers and backbenchers vividly insisted in an internal party meeting that the party could not expect 'team spirit' when they themselves were falling victims of personal and irresponsible attacks, both before and after the elections, emanating from within the selfsame Nationalist Party itself.

Assuming full responsibility for the electoral trouncing, Gonzi insisted that his party needed to be "closer to the people".

December 2009

Franco Debono absented himself from a vote on parliamentary committees, an amendment moved by the Opposition on the creation of two parliamentary select committees, one of which he was to chair. His unexpected absence forced Speaker Louis Galea to use his casting vote to defeat the amendment - which ironically proposed him as a chair for the committees.
Debono's shock move embarrassed the government forcing Lawrence Gonzi to pay him a personal visit at his home, accompanied by his wife Kate. In comments to the press, Gonzi claimed he "needed to see his family" and that he "wanted to see him for personal reasons".

In justifying his actions, Debono insisted that backbenchers should not be ignored, Parliament had to be granted autonomy, the justice system needed to be reformed and his district in the South, especially Birżebuġa and Marsaxlokk, needed urgent attention.

This led to the creation of parliamentary assistants in March 2010, a new breed of backbencher to assist ministers - part of Debono's call to Gonzi to listen to MPs. Gonzi took on Debono as his own parliamentary assistant. Debono takes up the drafting of a political party financing law as his primary assignment.

January 2010

Nationalist backbencher Jean-Pierre Farrugia hit out harshly at Lawrence Gonzi, in a scathing email he circulated to all members of the parliamentary group.

In his email, Farrugia said that it was a shame for 'GonziPN' that ministers and parliamentary secretaries had been receiving their higher parliamentary honoraria since the decision was taken in May 2008. On the other hand, the rise that was meant to be given to the other MPs had yet to be given to them.

Gonzi announced in parliament ministers would refund €14,000 each in honoraria after the conclusion of a marathon three-hour emergency parliamentary group meeting.

Farrugia said his "government shouldn't have discriminated between those MPs in the executive and those that aren't - on both sides of the House."

November 2011

Transport minister Austin Gatt was saved by the Speaker's casting vote in a no-confidence motion moved by the Opposition, to which Nationalist backbencher Franco Debono abstained.

Gonzi said that he had turned down Gatt's offer to resign, however the Prime Minister went on to say that he and Cabinet were to shoulder the responsibility for the reform's shortcomings. Gonzi announced a decision by Cabinet to set up a task force to coordinate government policy and see to the full implementation of the disastrous public transport reform.

January 2012

Following Franco Debono's threats of voting against the government if the justice and home affairs ministry were not split, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi announces a Cabinet reshuffle, splitting the justice and home affairs portfolios and promoting Mario de Marco and Chris Said to ministers. Debono missed out on a Cabinet position.

Gonzi coupled his Cabinet reshuffle with the removal of the parliamentary honorarium for ministers, clearing the deck of an unpopular decision that has haunted his government since re-election in 2008.

Gonzi's reshuffle was met with disdain by Debono who called for the Prime Minister's resignation and to call for early elections, claiming the country had been turned into an oligarchy.

The government is saved once again by the Speaker's casting vote as Franco Debono abstained for the umpteenth time in a no-confidence motion tabled by the Opposition against the government.

This led to Gonzi calling for a PN leadership contest, which finally saw the uncontested Prime Minister retain the party's leadership in a bogus election.

May 2012

Following Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando unexpected private member's bill proposing the introduction of divorce, the country voted in favour of the law in a referendum. Following the referendum, which was only held after Nationalist MP Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando and Jesmond Mugliett voted with the Opposition, Gonzi declared he would vote against the people's will in the full knowledge that there were enough MPs to pass the bill through. This drew a barrage of criticism, with the Opposition and some government MPs accusing Gonzi of disrespecting the popular verdict.

May 2012

Gonzi lost two important allies in his Cabinet: home affairs minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici and EU ambassador Richard Cachia Caruana, following two controversial votes in Parliament.

Franco Debono voted against the government forcing the beleaguered home affairs minister to resign. "I am a firm Nationalist but I had no alternative today in view of the minister's shortcomings in the running of the ministry," Debono said after the vote.

In June, Gonzi's government suffered the second humiliating defeat in the space of two weeks as Nationalist MP Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando voted in favour of an Opposition calling for the resignation of Richard Cachia Caruana.

Nationalist MP Jesmond Mugliett abstained on the motion, which accused Cachia Caruana of having manoeuvred the reactivation of Malta's participation in Nato's Partnership for Peace in such a manner as to bypass the House's need for ratification of PfP. Gonzi warns that MPs must shoulder the consequences of their actions.

July 2012

Franco Debono, together with backbenchers Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando and Jesmond Mugliett, are "condemned" by the PN executive council for how they voted separately in parliament, and are banned from contesting elections on the PN ticket.

Debono vociferously opposes the ban and Pullicino Orlando hands in resignation from PN and its Parliamentary group. He stays on as an Independent MP, effectively forcing Gonzi's government into an unconventional coalition with the Zebbug MP to maintain its one-seat majority.

Following the summer recess, Gonzi is faced with a number of predicaments, including a motion of no-confidence in Austin Gatt, John Dalli's sudden resignation as EU Commissioner, the troubled nomination of Tonio Borg as Dalli's replacement, the PN deputy leader election and culminating in what could prove to be the last act of his maligned administration, the 2013 Budget.